The
Museum has a large and important Shaker Collection. It was begun
in 1926 when the Church Family, Watervliet, Shakers sold their
buildings to Albany County for the Ann Lee Home. The Shakers
assisted Museum curators in gathering and documenting the
materials from that community.

With
help from the remaining Shakers, the Shaker collection at the
Museum continued to grow during the 1930s and 1940s as the number
of Shakers diminished, and they were forced to give up their
buildings and large land holdings. During these years, the South
Family at Watervliet closed and the remaining Families at Mt.
Lebanon closed.

Shaker chair. Shaker side chair made at Mt. Lebanon Shaker Community, c. 1852, with pewter tilters on the rear legs.

Artifacts
included in this extensive collection include furniture, stoves,
baskets, oval boxes, buckets, textiles and clothing, seed and
herb packaging material, architectural elements, cans and
bottles. The comprehensive Shaker collections at the Museum
comprise not only finished products, but also the tools and
equipment used to produce the products. These include basket
molds, bonnet molds, farming equipment, presses for printing herb
labels, presses for pressing herbs, choppers, looms, spinning
wheels, sewing equipment, and casting patterns. Even raw
materials such as splints for basket weaving, palm for making
bonnets, and rolls of Shaker chair tape are present.

Material
associated with the daily life of this communal society are also
represented. Laundry tubs and equipment, kitchen equipment,
school desks, the only surviving Shaker fountain stone, and
prints and photographs of various Shaker communities, and
transportation items, including a coffin carrier, are just a few
of these other items.

Since
the Museum's Shaker collection covers a variety of subject areas,
it is necessary to contact the curator whose expertise lies in
the area you may be interested in.

Cloth Doll. Printed by the Art Fabric Mills of
Fort Plain, New York, patented February 13, 1900. Early printed cloth dolls
were frequently premiums, offered by a company as an advertising gimmick for a
small sum or proof of purchase. The doll pieces were cut out, stitched together,
stuffed with rags, and frequently dressed
from scraps around the house. This doll is dressed in pieces of an old paisley shawl.

This
collection contains children's' play things, from early board and
card games to cast iron fire engines, pull toy animals and bisque
dolls, early Barbie dolls and tin clockwork toy appliances,
baseballs, gloves and bats and a number of large doll houses.

Buck Rogers Rocket Police Patrol. A tin mechanial toy, based on the comic book hero Buck Rogers from the 25th century. Made by Louis Marx & Co, New York City, patented March 15, 1937.